


Book of God-za

by TsukkiHoshi



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Unofficial Sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:41:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27047416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TsukkiHoshi/pseuds/TsukkiHoshi
Summary: This story is set 7 years later, in which Mankai Company had found success after winning the Fleur Award. Despite being the more resourceful company, God-za had never once won the Fleur Award. Now, what will Reni Kamikizaka do to finally grab that award into their bag?The story will be introducing a whole new set of casts that includes a new Manager, Riko Harune as well as 20 God-za boys (18 new boys with the inclusion of Madoka Ikaruga and Shifuto Arakawa).
Kudos: 9





	1. 2 Years Ago

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter of my work and I am already a mess because I suck at putting a title for it.  
> Nevertheless, welcome to my work!!!

“and the winner of this year’s Fleur Award goes to… Mankai Company!! Let’s give them a round of applause!!” Following the announcement was a deafening volume of high cheers and loud claps.

In the sea of loud cheers and a standing ovation, five figures started to move. Like a ripple, the still audience moved to make way for the day’s main characters. No matter where they walked, the spotlight did not leave them.

Under the spotlight, the woman that walked between four men suddenly trips and before she could fall completely on the ground, two arms come grabbing onto her. “Whoops, be careful, you do not want to mess yourself up today.”

The woman was quick to collect herself. “Sorry for worrying you all, I still can’t believe we did it.”

“Yeah, we finally did it, eh…? The highest and brightest podium.” One of the men smiles ever so softly, his blue eyes twinkles as he stretches out his hands to the woman. “Let’s go, to the place of our dreams.”

“Yeah, let’s go stand at that place when we should from the start, Izumi-san.” Said another man with brown locks.

“Good grief, d-don’t cry now! You have to be pretty when you are up there, got it?” said another man as worries start to well in his purple orbs.

“Let’s go! Izumi-san!” With the words of the last man with magenta hair, they continue their way towards the stage with the sound of cheers resounding the hall.

The cheers showed no signs of stopping until the five figures stepped onto the center of the stage after receiving the award, making themselves ready for their speech.

“They are shining… I was skeptical at first, but they did end up achieving something we both haven’t been able to, they truly are incredible, am I right, Reni?” At a certain corner of the grand hall, two men stay standing as they both watch the woman on stage starting her speech in a shaky voice.

Letting his crossed arms loose, the man named Reni turned towards the man who just spoke to him. “Hmph… I would expect no less from the Tachibana and also, she is your daughter, no? Yukio.”

Letting out a slightly defeated chuckle, Yukio pushed himself off from the wall. Taking his hands out from his pockets, he gestured towards the exit. “Fancy yourself to accompany a friend to have a drink?”

Pushing his long dark purple hair behind him, Reni scowled in disbelief as he stood at the same spot, his arms once again crossed. “Don’t you want to celebrate it with them? Are you still not comfortable around your daughter?”

“I don’t think I have the right to celebrate it with them just like that.” While Yukio was speaking, he once again took a look at the stage, where a magenta haired man is speaking now.

Reflected from his eyes that’s filled with nothing but his daughter, multiple emotions that ranged from sorry, regrets and pride can be seen. Deciding to close his eyes away from the golden stage filled with hope and glory, he turned towards Reni.

Scratching his head, he smiled pleadingly, looking slightly desperate as if asking for help. “So, care to join me for just a while?”

With them being friends for decades, Reni knew it right away that Yukio truly needs a drinking buddy now with how that forced smile of his was presenting itself. Letting a deep sigh, he starts to walk towards the exit. “Fine, let’s go.”

Grabbing onto the handle of the door, before he truly leaves the grand hall, Reni turned and took one more look towards the stage. The speech was still going with an orange head speaking now. _One day, I will also…_

Cutting off his own thought, he pulled the door handle, stepping out from the grand hall with Yukio following him from behind.

* * *

“Reni-san?” “Reni-san?!” “RENI-SAN!!!” The loud voice that comes piercing into his ears makes him snap away from his thoughts. _Am I getting old?_ Is what he was thinking as he brings himself back to earth. Turning away from his windows, he comes facing a pink-haired man with a one longer side bang.

“Haruto-kun, what brings you here?” he questions as he adjusts his brown suit a little, not noticing that his large screen is still turned on.

Seeing that Reni had finally paid him the attention he needs, he let out a long sigh. “It’s three in the afternoon now. According to the schedule, you have a meeting with our fellow shareholders and sponsors now.”

After he had spoken out the schedule, Haruto turns on a tablet that he is holding and proceed his way towards Reni’s office desk. “These are the subjects that we will be talking about later.”

Leaving the tablet for Reni to read and study, Haruto finds his attention being brought towards the sound that came from the large screen in Reni’s office. _He is watching it again, huh…_ “Reni-san, are you still watching that? It’s been a year.”

The words had stopped Reni’s finger that’s scrolling through the tablet. Realizing what Haruto was talking about, he immediately grabbed the remote and shut off the large screen. With that, the thank you speech of a woman with the Fleur Award in her embrace turns to a black screen.

Placing the remote away, Reni stands up from his chair with the tablet still in his hands. “It’s nothing.” Grabbing an extra coat with him, he walks away from his desk.

He had been following him for years. Haruto knows right away with Reni’s “It’s nothing” signifies that he should not question things further. He could only let out a deep sigh to forget about what just occurred.

 _Let’s not overthink things!!_ Haruto tells himself as he straightens his back, adjusting his yellow necktie before following Reni out from the office.

The moment he walks out, leaving the glass door waving behind, he sees Reni already gone half his way to the meeting room. With a few quick steps, he catches up on Reni and before Reni could enter the meeting room, he nudges onto Reni a little to catch his attention.

“Katou-san is here today and he seems to be a little bit sketchy.” With that, Haruto spares Reni’s ear with the whispering.

It’s a small gesture, but Reni’s grasp on his coat tightens just a tad bit and by looking at Haruto for a short minute, he nods with full understanding. “Thank you for the heads up. Let’s head inside then, we will see what he has in store for us this time.”

With that, both of them enter the meeting room and they are being met with multiple pairs of eyes. _Let’s see what had brought them here today._ Maintaining a poker face, he greets the visitors and sponsors when he is on his way to his seat. The same goes for Haruto that’s following him from behind.

Reaching his seat, situated at the end of the long table, he comes facing a middle-aged man with shoulder-length grey hair. “Good afternoon, Katou-san. Fancy seeing you dropping by today, may I know what brings you here again?”

Without answering Reni immediately, Katou glances towards the visitors. Clearing his throat, he turns back to Reni. “As a fellow shareholder for this theatre, I believe I have the right to be here to check on the status of its operation frequently, no?”

No matter how well-trained he is to face pressure and also his past experiences of standing on stage, the meeting between Reni and Katou never fails to make Haruto nervous. As silent as possible, he manages a deep gulp, hoping that one of them would continue.

Reni smiles as he heard the response. “That’s very true.” He gestures Katou towards the seat next to his. “Please take a seat, we do not want them to wait for us.”

Katou smiles back as he returns to his seat.

Once Reni had made sure every single individual had been seated, he places his coat away and finally settles down on his own. He turns towards Haruto, signaling him to start the meeting and business briefing.

Grabbing onto his own tablet, Haruto walks to the front podium to start the briefing. “Good afternoon to all. I am Haruto Asuka, your presenter today. First of all, I would like to thank you all for coming to this company briefing. Now, let’s start with…” He turns towards the slides while pressing the remote to proceed with the pages.

“…we have decided to produce shows from the 2nd Division actors more frequently, starting from this season up to the end of summer. When we have reached the autumn season, we will be releasing the 1st Division shows. With that, I will be concluding today’s briefing. Thank you.”

Before he could place his microphone down, Haruto notices a few of the sponsors raising their hands, wishing to speak. Without doubting anything, Haruto gestured one of them to speak.

“A question, according to what I saw from the slides, it is very apparent that 1st Division shows have the highest sales, why don’t you just focus on them rather than wasting time on putting out 2nd Division productions?”

Just when Haruto is about to answer, like a domino effect, another question comes. “Yeah, why don’t you just put out shows that Shifuto Arakawa is involved since he is pretty much the main source of income.”

“Yes, if it’s him I am sure we will be able to pull more sponsors, because if you see…” one of them starts to raise his fingers to count. “modeling offer, screen acting offer, endorsement opportunity, he is basically a goldmine!”

“That’s right! Do not forget that the reason why we are willing to sponsor is because of Shifuto-kun.” Another sponsor pauses themselves for a while and resumes “I might sound rude, but I worry that his value would lower if he starts to being less active.”

“That’s my main concern as well and I heard rumors about an idol joining the company, is that true? May you introduce him to us?”

It’s unending, the questions keep coming non-stop. Having no other choice, Haruto tries his best to calm the sponsors. However, the sponsors show no sign of halting their suggestions filled with their own personal agendas.

 _Ah, so that’s the reason why he had round up so many of them today, eh…?_ Maintaining his calm posture, he glances towards Katou and he notices the man is smiling ever slightly. Reni knows right away what is happening and he decided to speak up after keeping his eyes away from Katou.

However, before he could do it, Katou stands up which forces him to stay back on his seat. He squints a little as he watches what Katou is going to do.

“Ahem, may you, fellow sponsors give me some attention?” With that, the unending noise and chaos dwindled and all the eyes had gone towards Katou.

Realizing that he had gotten the attention he needs, Katou turns towards his secretary. “Mashiro, kindly.”

From the shadows, in came a well-dressed tall man with a very gelled up black hair. Pushing up his glasses, he walks straight to where Haruto is. “Excuse me.” With that, Mashiro plugs in a pen-drive into the desktop and takes over the business briefing.

Without caring for the incredulous look that Haruto is giving him, he grabs the microphone and starts talking. “Good afternoon, I am Mashiro and I hereby apologize for giving you all the concerns given from my fellow partners. I hope this version that I am going to present will be able to soothe your worries.”

Haruto does not like that all the attention had been moved away from him, but he saw Reni’s meaningful look towards him from afar. “Stand back for now.” It wasn’t spoken, but Haruto knows right away what it means from Reni’s look.

“This briefing would be a simple one that covers only two parts. First of all, we have planned to renovate the theatre to have dorms for our actors.” Mashiro proceeds to show the floor plans of how would the renovated God-za looks like. “This is to ensure that the actors under us would spend their time together more to build up their chemistry better.”

“Second, we have planned to transform God-za to become an entertainment company which focuses more on commercials and multi-entertainment. Said commercials and multi entertainments are modeling gigs, endorsements, variety shows and we even have plans to venture out towards debuting idol groups.”

After he flipped through even more slides, Mashiro stops on a page which shows Shifuto Arakawa. “As for Shifuto Arakawa, our current undisputed main moneymaker would be the center of our multiple projects planned to last for years to come. With that, this concludes the business briefing.”

After hearing what has been told from Mashiro, there’s a visible expression of distaste surfaced from the face of Haruto. _What on earth was that ridiculous-_

Gripping onto his fist hard, he decides to call off this business briefing, but before he could do it, the meeting room was suddenly filled with agreeable claps and acknowledgments full of satisfaction.

“That’s how it’s supposed to be.”

“That’s what I am here for today. After hearing what had been told, I am looking forward to working with God-za!”

“Let’s continue our happy ventures together!”

“NO!” Among the sea of euphoric laughter and cheerful exchanges, a huge sound of rejection coupled with a loud slam that comes from the table comes cutting through it from the end of the long table. Shocked by the different reaction that opposes the current atmosphere, the sponsors all turn towards the source of it.

Ignoring the slight sting coming from his palms, Reni looks up to face all the individuals in the room. “I do not agree on transforming the theatre into some ridiculous multimedia entertainment company.”

Letting out a deep sigh, he straightens himself even more. With a calmer tone this time, he continues with what he wants to say as he turns towards the sponsors. “I am terribly sorry for the confusion that’s being made here, I am afraid I have not been notified of such contents even though I am supposedly the director of the company.”

Stretching out his right arm, he starts to guide the sponsors out. “I am afraid we will have to postpone the discussion of this matter to a further date. That’s it after we have properly sorted this out with my fellow shareholder, Katou-san.”

As he heard his name is being brought up, Katou is quick to stand up from his seat. “Yes, we do need to discuss this and it would be right now this instance.”

Katou turns towards the confused sponsors that are starting to get uneasy as if the euphoric experience just now wasn’t there in the first place. “Ladies and gentlemen, you do not have to fear as that win-win plan that was shared will go through without fail. It’s just that my fellow shareholder needs some convincing to let it go through.”

With that, the expression of the sponsors softens a lot, but it was never long. The same goes for the professional smile that Katou is wearing because Reni’s voice came from behind.

“A win-win you say? How ridiculous. Do you think I haven’t figured out what you are planning? Did it not ever crossed your mind why did I keep dismissing your multiple approaches regarding the matter?” Reni said sharply, his words containing no signs of joke or sarcasm.

With his polite smile that is beginning to slip away, he quickly turns towards Reni. “Oh, my dear Reni, did it never occurred to you that I was simply trying to help?”

Eyes still pinning sharply on Katou, Reni scoffs as he crosses his arms. “Trying to help you say? Don’t make me laugh. Do you even understand what God-za is in the first place? It isn’t a place for you to play around by adding such nonsensical ideas.”

Smiling dryly, Katou crosses his arms as well. “Let me ask you one more time, how many years has it been when you made the promise about winning the Fleur Award? Have you ever achieved that? Did you even see how many companies have been building dorms ever since Mankai won the Fleur Award last year?”

“Building dorms aside, where are you even planning to obtain that money to renovate this theatre if I do not give the pass? Also, I simply do not agree with using Shifuto to give God-za the shortcut to earn recognition. He is an actor, not a tool for you to feed your agenda.” Finishing his words, Reni quickly turns towards Haruto, telling him to usher the sponsors out as soon as possible.

“Did you really think that I wouldn’t have enough money to do the renovation? Do you think you are still in power?” Katou’s smile has truly disappeared as he questions Reni while he glances towards the sponsors that are slowly quitting the room.

“I have no idea what's going on, but I don’t get the refusal. If you allow the idea given by Katou-san by getting Shifuto-kun into even more offers and opportunities, I am sure it would benefit all of us.” Said one of the sponsors who seem to refuse to leave.

“Oya?” Reni turns his attention towards that one sponsor who spoke up. “Let me keep it clean, the reason why Shifuto signed contracts with you all is that he chose to do so. He chose you all, we simply do not have any hand on his decision other than passing him the offers coming his way.”

Flipping his hair to his back, he continues. “Also, care to remind me who are the ones that came to me, asking and begging for Shifuto? Do not even think that I don’t know what intentions you have by wanting to push Shifuto into an even bigger spotlight. The bigger his spotlight, the more your products or companies get recognition, no?”

“You!” Unable to take the sharp words, the sponsor finally decides to stand up from his seat. “Are you not afraid that we will cancel our contracts and whatever deal that we have with him?” He turns towards a few sponsors who were leaving and a few of them nods.

“If that’s what you wish for, cancel it. We are not the one who is going to lose anything in the first place with these contracts gone.” Letting loose of one of his arms, he once again guides them out. “Now, if you may kindly leave?”

Rendered speechless, the stubborn sponsor walks out from the meeting room with heavy steps. He is followed by the rest that is starting to grumble and some are even heard cursing a little.

With the crowds now gone, the meeting room is left with four individuals. Watching the door completely shut, Reni turns to face Katou. “Why are you still standing here for? I think I have made my case very clear.”

It’s supposed to be a sunny afternoon, but that isn't the case on Katou’s face. Heavy grey thunderclouds hang on his face as he glares at Reni. “I will not give up. I will transform God-za and make Shifuto Arakawa the core of my plans!”

“Oho, feeling confident, aren’t we? I would like to see you try as you should know by now no matter how many times you try it would be useless.” Dropping his words, Reni feels exhausted by facing Katou and he decides to leave the room.

Katou simply was not ready for having this failure. He seriously thought he will have success in getting his plans through today. Reni’s action today had seriously hurt his ego and he could not stand it. He laughs by containing his anger as much as possible. “I will not give up, you hear me? Shifuto Arakawa will end up in my hands or… perhaps he already is by now.”

 _He had seriously gone insane._ Without even wanting to stay in the same space with Katou any longer, Reni steps out from the room with Haruto following him.

Before Reni could start walking back to his office, Haruto is quick to grab his attention. “Reni-san, do you think we need to check onto Shifuto? The words that he said just now…”

Reni narrows his eyes as he listens to Haruto’s suggestion. _Better safe than sorry._ He manages a nod towards Haruto. With the permission given by Reni, Haruto quickly fishes out his phone to make a call.

The first few calls he made weren’t picked up by the other side. _Don’t tell me he once again shut off his phone or his phone had gone out of battery._ Haruto is worried, however, he forces himself to be as calm as possible by calling another number.

He waits for a while until his call is being received. “Hello, Shimizu-kun, may I know is Shifuto with you now?”

From the other side, a man with white long hair and blue eyes speaks up. “He was with me just a moment ago, he told me he needs the washroom. May I know what’s the matter? Should I inform him that you called? Or should I pass the phone to him now?”

“Yes, please do pass the phone to him right now,” Haruto replies as he follows Reni back to the office.

“Alright, kindly wait for a minute.” With that, their exchange had come to a pause for a few minutes with Haruto hearing the footsteps of Shimizu from his phone.

The wait was strangely nerve-wracking as Haruto simply could not stop the worst scenario playing in his mind and he blames himself for that. This is due to he found out later that Shifuto was nowhere to be seen in the washroom. The only thing that proves his presence is his phone that dropped on the washroom floor.

“What?!” Haruto cursed himself for thinking bad. After saying farewell to Shimizu as well as asking him to help on the search, he quickly informs Reni about the matter. Without a single moment wasted, Reni and Haruto are quick to return to the meeting room to ask Katou about the matter, but they could not find a single shadow there.  


“Damn it! What should we do if the worst happened to him?” Haruto starts to get really anxious.

“Be calm. We do not know whether or not if he does truly get kidnapped or he is being his usual self, ditching his work halfway sometimes. For now, let’s be calm and try finding him ourselves. We do not want to spread the news to the other staff, causing anxiety.” Finishing his words, Reni and Haruto quickly leave God-za to search for Shifuto.

* * *

_Hmm… am I now under some sort of hidden camera prank?_ He thinks to himself as he pretends to be asleep as he opens his eyes a little just to check his surroundings. He finds himself getting surrounded by tough-looking men and he is in a moving car.

 _Hmm… very interesting!_ Using the motion of the moving car, he moves his head “involuntarily” just a tiny little bit which makes him found out that there’s no camera installed in the car. _Which means this isn’t some on-screen gimmicks._

It’s a good thing that he isn’t a gullible person. Thanks to him being friends with someone that's affiliated with the underground that he knows right away that he is in serious trouble. _What should I do? Do I fake being asleep and wait or…_

“Urgh! What’s going on? Where’s this? Why is my head in such pain?” With him coming out clean that he is awake now, he notices that the 4 strong-looking men start to be alert. They move a little with the driver looking back at him through the mirror.

 _So, you guys want to stay silent eh…_ Shifuto moves his hands a little and he found out that his hands are in a bind. _Hmm…_ “My head seriously hurts, I feel bad. W-would any of you be a kind soul willing to stop a while because I feel-”

Suddenly he gagged, in which he tries to cover his mouth with his hand. Pretending as if he is on the verge of throwing up, he aggressively enters two of his fingers into his own throat, causing him to throw up for real.

Thanks to him having some lunch just now that he has actual content to throw up. Getting the timing right, he is quick to turn his head towards one of the men and spill all of his nasties on their laps.

“Fuck! Hit the break!” The one that’s got vomited on finally speaks up. They do not expect such outcomes and that makes the driver hit the breaks after driving the car to the side road.

“Watch him!” Orders the man, who is getting out of the car to drop those vomits away, however, he did not expect Shifuto to act so fast.

Just the moment he saw that the door is open and the man had walked away quite a bit, he immediately elbowed the man beside him as well as hitting him a few times by balling a tight fist with both of his bound hands. _Thanks, Azami and his family for teaching me some of this._

As the man is trying to gain some consciousness, he is quick to leave the car and run as fast as he can with his hands still tied up. While he is running away, he can still hear voices coming from behind, ordering him to stop.

Without any thoughts of stopping, he continues to run. Due to the emptiness of the streets, he finds it hard for him to confuse the pursuer by melding into the crowd. Biting his lips, the only thing he could do is to outrun them.

He starts to zip around the shops and alleyways until he finds some broken piece of glasses, scattered in one of the alleyways. There’s when he decides to stop for a while to saw the ropes binding his hands.

Just when he thought that he can rest, the sound of his pursuer comes entering his ears which makes him needing to run again. However, due to him being surrounded by walls, he could not tell where are they coming from or where he should run.

Just when he is in a bind, a drunken woman came out from one of the back doors belonged to one of the back alleys’ building. He watches as the woman walk in a dizzy manner and he also watches how she throws up. _She must have just come out from a bar…_

 _Wait, perhaps I can- well, sorry to use you for a while, I apologize._ With that, he is quick to approach the woman and grab her wrist, turning her towards him and put her on the wall, making it as if they are making out.

Feeling the sudden skin contact with a stranger, the woman almost screams, but she stops herself after Shifuto begs her to help. "I am not here to harm you just please, help a man out."

It seems that his pleas did not get through the woman as she starts to struggle again, however as the sound of the footsteps get nearer, it sobers her up alot because she finally stops struggling. Just when Shifuto is trying to apologize, Shifuto heard the woman. “Not again.” He sees the woman looking at him with her pink eyes. “You and me, let’s run.”

“Eh!?” Without expecting things would turn this way, Shifuto finds himself getting pulled along by his wrist. _Holy crap, she runs fast!_ Coming out from the alleyways, once again being under the bright sun, Shifuto then notices that the woman pulling him along has light brown hair.  


The wind keeps blowing through her golden brownish hair as they run. It feels like it was an eternity, the woman finally stops on her track. While Shifuto is catching his breath, the woman tells him to wait and enters a convenience store.

After a short while, the voice of the woman comes into his ears. “Take it.” In which, Shifuto just stares at the plastic bag given to him as he noticed the woman starts to drink something. “You reek of vomit, you just had some drink, am I right? Freshen up, it’s just some scented face wipes and hangover drinks.”

Managing a deep gulp, he receives the bag after saying thanks even though he did not have any sketchy drinks. Opening up the bag, he takes out the scented face wipe and before him, the woman received a call and he watches her talk.

As he is wiping his face with an orange-scented face wipe, he just could not take his curiosity anymore and so he brings out his question. “Don’t you need these more than I do? I saw how tipsy you were back there and you did vomit as well.”

Taking a sip of her hangover drink, she turns towards Shifuto. “Thanks for the concern, but I have sobered up a lot thanks to you suddenly grabbing me and slammed me on the wall as well as taking in fresh air after all that running.” She pauses awhile before continuing. “I am not in the position to question what was going on back there, so I won't. However, don’t you want to call someone to pick you up?”

“Ah!” Shifuto immediately starts to dig into all of his pockets and finds out that he had lost his phone. This had made him go without a choice but to ask for the woman’s phone, which the woman gladly lends it to him. “Thanks a lot!”

“Hello, Haruto-san…” Shifuto starts to talk after tapping the phone a few times. After a short while, he returns the phone to the woman and they both waited for an hour or so in complete silence.  


“Ah! Finally, he is here.” The woman's voice breaks the hour-long silence. “Hey, I am going. Are you fine on your own?”

Upon receiving the concerns from the woman, Shifuto quietly nods a few times telling her he is fine on his own. He watches as a black van, with tinted windows stops right in front of him and before the woman completely enters the van, the woman turns around towards him.

“I know it might sound strange, but what will you do if there’s something that you do not want to do, but for some reason, you have to?” Her question is indeed strange, but weirdly enough, it had completely grabbed his attention.

Entering both of his hands into his pocket, he answers her. “Just do the thing that your heart tells you to, you don’t have to worry about the others.” Yes, that’s how he is, always.

In front of him, the woman smiles at him, and without exchanging anymore unnecessary conversation, she finally enters the black van and behind her van, another car drives ever close.

“Just what trouble have you gotten yourself into this time, Riko! And who is that guy?” asked the driver of the woman, now named Riko as he looks at her with worry.

Through the tinted window, Riko once again takes a good look at the man that she just met. After seeing him entering another car, she turns to face her driver. “Don’t worry, manager. I can tell he is not a stalker nor a tabloid writer.”

“Please, just be careful. You do know you are in a very sensitive phase of your career!” And the manager starts to ramble on.

To calm and stop the manager, Riko is fast to answer him. “Alright. Alright. It won’t happen anymore. I will be careful next time.”

  


**-END OF CHAPTER-**


	2. The Answer and The Reply

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the hits and kudos, they are well appreciated.
> 
> Made a tough decision with me ended up choosing to be daring by focusing on Riko's story first.
> 
> Please be patient with me and Enjoy!

_“I know it might sound strange, but what will you do if there’s something that you do not want to do, but for some reason, you have to?”_

Shifuto knows that he had answered that question that came from that stranger. However, for some reason, he can’t help himself from replaying that very question over and over again in his mind.

 _That’s strange._ He silently thinks as he absent-mindedly keeps moving his hand in a small repetitive grabbing motion, causing the sound of the plastic bag crackles throughout the whole car.

 _Why did she ask me that?_ As if he got enchanted by a mere plastic bag, due to him keep staring at it. If there are people looking at him now, they would think that the plastic bag is ten times more charming than the ever-changing scenery outside of the moving car.

However, before he could burn a hole in the plastic bag for answers, the car stops. With the breaks got stepped on, his head got nudged a tad bit forward, causing him to snap out of from his little imaginative plastic date.

He raises his head and through the window, he notices he had returned to God-za, the place that’s like his second home. Just as Haruto and Reni are both getting down, Shifuto is quick to follow them.

Just right after he shut the door, he heard Reni calling him to the office. He exchanged glances with Haruto, and all he gets is the stern glares, piercing through his conscience. Even though Haruto is shorter than him, however, those fire that’s currently residing in those purple orbs does not fail to make him feel sorry.

With the plastic bag still hanging on his wrist, he put up both of his hands to show the “OK” sign towards Haruto while smiling cheekily. “Alright! Alright! I will be a good boy.”

Even though he had said that and is currently doing what he promised, but he can still feel the purple lasers pinpointing on him, daring him to misbehave. He sighs as that’s the only thing he could do.

Looking at the back of both Shifuto and Reni entering God-za, he finally relaxes his tensed body. Keeping away those glares he is having, his eyes immediately soften a lot. Letting out a huge sigh, he quickly follows both of them in.

Upon returning to his office, Reni is quick to tell Shifuto to take a seat as he calls Haruto to bring him the first aid kit. As they are waiting for the first aid kit, Reni immediately grabbed Shifuto’s arm and pulls up the sleeves of his long coat.

“You just got kidnapped, right?” Reni is not happy after he sees the reddened skin that shows visible markings of ropes on Shifuto’s arms. Not only that, but he also notices some clotted blood around as well as the tip of Shifuto’s fingers.

Trying to contain his raging emotions, he quickly grabs the first aid kit that Haruto just brought over. Letting go of Shifuto’s arm, he grabs a bottle of a disinfector after opening up the kit. Without needing Reni’s orders, Haruto is quick to bring a bowl of clean water.

While Reni is dripping some disinfector into the bowl of water, he raises his head to face Shifuto, who seems to be bewildered by the situation. “Speak, just what had happened to you that made you this way?!”

Shutting the bottle of disinfector, Reni proceeds on grabbing a clean fabric and dip them into the bowl. Once the fabric is soaked, he takes it out and is currently wiping away all the blood clots on the fingers as well as rubbing the cloth on Shifuto’s wrist.

“At first I thought I was being thrown into a hidden camera prank.” Feeling really sorry, Shifuto finally opens up his mouth to talk, however, his voice became strangely excited on the next sentence. “However, after noticing the strange atmosphere, I know I am in serious danger.”

His strange excitement is peaking, even more, he turns towards Haruto. “Do you know what I did? I fought them, of course. I feel like I am in some action drama, the way I fought and outran them is so cool!”

He continues on by going into the details about how he tricked them with his acting until Haruto could almost see stars twinkling from his eyes.

 _Is he being serious now?!?!_ Unlike the excitement of the almost kidnapped victim, Haruto is furious that caused by his worries and stress. As softly as he could, he smacked the back of Shifuto’s head.

This one smack had made the stars on Shifuto’s eyes drop away. “Ow!” With instinct, he turns towards Haruto, while faking that he is in serious pain. “How could you treat a patient this way? Be careful with me.”

With the years of him knowing Shifuto, he knows he is being dramatic. He squints his eyes as well as crossing his arms. “A patient you say? I have never once seen a patient in such high spirits as you. Do I perhaps need to go find more material out there to role-study?”

Haruto is someone akin to a big brother to him and he knows he is worried. He smiles cheekily in order to lessen the fire. “Of course, it does, there are roles like a happy patient, a hopeful patient you know… Hehe!”

“You!” Before Haruto could bring down his lecture on Shifuto, Reni intervenes in their bickering. “That’s enough. The most important thing is that Shifuto is back to us, safe and sound.”

“Hmph!” As Haruto is tightening his arms, even more, Reni finished putting the final plaster on Shifuto’s fingers.

Reni grabs a bottle of ointment and tosses it to Shifuto. “Use that to rub your wrist these few days.” With that, he shut the first aid kit and turns towards Haruto. “Come with me for a moment.”

Sensing the serious tone that came from Reni, Haruto moved his full attention to Reni that’s standing up from the couch. Both of them walk to another corner of the room, leaving Shifuto alone, who is starting to check his hands out.

“What should we do now? We don’t have any proof, but what if it’s Katou’s doing?” Reni starts to grip his hand tight as he starts discussing the matter with Haruto in a whispering manner.

Before Haruto could answer, Reni continues. “If it’s his doing, and judging by how he is, this will continue to happen. It would go even worst later down the road.”

Haruto notices how Reni’s voice sounds shaken, albeit subtle due to Reni trying his best to suppress his nerves. He ponders for a while and as if something just hits him, he widens his eyes a little. “Reni-san, how about we provide accommodation for Shifuto and the other actors for safety?”

“You mean to accept that Katou’s suggestion on renovating and building dorms for God-za?” He looks at Haruto in a questioning manner as if Haruto had suddenly turned into an animal.

“It’s not about accepting Katou’s suggestion, we are now renovating God-za with the purpose of keeping them safe, unlike what he wants by putting surveillance camera on them, watching them 24/7.”

After he sees how Reni still does not look convinced, Haruto continues. “Let’s think about this, if it’s his doing, he could once again kidnap any one of the actors, especially Shifuto when they are commuting between here and their homes. I don’t feel safe.”

“Hmm…” As he is considering, Reni turns away to lay his eyes on Shifuto.

Noticing that both Reni and Haruto are looking at his way, Shifuto face lights up a little. “What? Why are you both looking at me? What are you both discussing?”

“It’s nothing.” Said Reni and before Shifuto could go back checking his hands, filled with plasters, Reni once again throw a question towards Shifuto. “So, fancy to tell me who is that woman that’s with you just now?”

With the mention of the woman, a pair of pink eyes and those golden-brown locks come welling inside Shifuto’s memories. He takes a look at the plastic bag, placed on the table now, and turns towards Reni. “She is someone that helped me just now.”

Crossing his arms, Reni is beginning to get intrigued. “Helped you? How?”

“It’s like this…” Shifuto starts to tell how he met the woman and how they ended up where Reni and Haruto came to pick him up. “That’s all.”

“Hmm… do you know what’s her name? I feel the need to meet up with her to give my thanks.” Said Reni as he glances at Haruto, who is also nodding his head with approval.

Shifuto’s face once again lights up. “Oh! Her name is… AAAAAAAAAAH!” Suddenly Shifuto exclaims while standing up from the couch and he turns to apologize. “I forgot to ask what’s her name! I am sorry.”

Finishing his apology, he slumps down back to the couch, feeling disheartened.

Seeing Shifuto sulks while hanging his head down, Reni and Haruto both sighs. _That’s the Shifuto we know…_ However, it does not last long as Haruto quickly fishes out his phone and checks his call log and his eyes widen as he could not find any new number that just called him an hour ago. “Weird…”

That had immediately grabbed Reni’s attention. Without needing him to speak, Haruto explains that he should be able to find the number in his call log after what Shifuto had told them about him borrowing her phone to call them.

Reni takes away Shifuto’s phone to check for himself and it’s true, no new stranger number had been saved. Returning the phone to Haruto, he could only sigh since there seems to be no other way to contact the woman.

With that, in his heart, Reni could only say: Thank you.

* * *

“You’re welcome! Thanks for coming to my fan-signing event!” Riko’s pink eyes are practically sparkling as she looks at a child fan, walking away with a book that has her signature in her small hug.

Her eyes keep following the back of the child until the child stops and turns back to look at her once more. _How cute!_ She waves at the child and nods a few more times, her smile never leaves her face.

Feeling embarrassed by looking at her radiant smile, with difficulty, the child forced his smile down, turn away, and buries his whole face into his parents. The parents then look back at her, exchanged a few wordless nods before taking the child away from the venue.

After making sure that the child is safe with his parents, she turns away and stretches. “Ah! We are finally done!”

She stands up from her chair after stretching and beside her, her manager comes up to her with a bottle of water. “Good work for today, Riko.” After opening the cap of the bottle, he stretches the bottle towards her. “Drink up and let’s go.”

Grabbing her bag, she follows her manager after taking one mouthful of water. On their way to the van, Riko gets her phone out to update her social media with a very memorable picture that she took with one of her fans just now.

Looking at the phone, the manager cleared his throat a little to grab Riko’s attention. “Since we are free now, it’s time for us to talk about how you lend the stranger your phone for him to call someone.”

This had made her turn to the short manager. “Shiroiwa-san, are you still on that? This phone is given by the company. You should know that when we call some new number, it would not save any numbers or leave any records on the other side.”

Seeing that the manager is still looking at her with a big “I am still skeptical” expression, she continues as she brings the phone to his face. “I mean, do you find them calling me back? That man does not seem to know who I am.”

Just when Shiroiwa seems to almost get convinced, his professionalism knocked him back to earth and he shakes his head firmly. “No! We still need to be very careful. Do you know the name of the man? Give it so that the company can do some investigation.”

It’s not that she does not know that she has a clean image that she absolutely has to keep, but sometimes she almost wants to scream at her manager. _It’s his job…_ Sighing, she enters her mind to search if they exchange names or not and she realizes that they did not.

“I swear I am telling the truth, Shiroiwa-san. We did not exchange our names at all.” She is quick to stick three of her fingers together and raise it beside her forehead, swearing upon her life that she is speaking the truth.

Raising an eyebrow, Shiroiwa looks at her to confirm her words. It’s not like he has any proof that she is lying and so he decides to drop this subject. “Fine, just be careful next time.”

Before Riko could go back to her phone, Shiroiwa brings up another topic. “I have received a call from the CEO’s son and it seems like he would want to bring you to have a meal. How lucky of you.”

 _Again?!_ Due to her being an actress and a professional, she did show any of her actual emotions when such an invitation come by. She always thinks of the meals as a way that an employer is treating their employees due to their hard work and nothing more.

“Shiroiwa-san, how many times do I have to tell you? It’s nothing like what you are thinking. It’s just a meal between an employer and an employee.” After making things clear to her manager, she once again goes back to her phone. “So, when will it be?”

“It’s next week. As usual, I have rearranged your schedule to allow your attendance of the dinner.” Dropping his words to her, the manager found that they have reached their van. “Hop in, I will bring you to dinner.” With that, Riko enters the van after keeping her phone away.

Inside the moving van, Riko looks out to the moving scenery. As the van moves back to the surface after leaving the underground parking lot, she kept her eyes plastered outside. Streetlights that are lighting up keeps passing by Riko’s vision as on the far horizon, the sun is setting to welcome the night.

 _"Just do the thing that your heart tells you to, you don’t have to worry about the others.”_ The words play repeatedly in her head. It’s merely just a word that came from a stranger, but why does it give her such a deep impression?

Involuntarily she places her elbow on the door and rests her face on her knuckles. Without looking back at her manager, she opens her mouth. “Shiroiwa-san, what will you do if I said I want to quit my current life of being an actress?”

Suddenly, the van jerked a little causing her face to slip off from her knuckle. Instinctively, she turns towards her manager but before she could say anything, Shiroiwa starts to lecture her again while keeping his eyes on the road.

“What are you thinking?! Why such a question? Do you want to quit? Or is this some kind of loyalty test? Riko! You can’t be thinking about unnecessary things now! I know that you must be under stress but you need to get a grip! When this one movie that you are shooting now premieres, the flower road will surely be yours!”

 _Ah… I am in trouble…_ She appreciates her manager, she really does. However, she finds herself unable to handle when Shiroiwa starts to run his mouth. “Alright, alright. I get it now. Please, drive safely.” For now, all she wants is to calm her manager down as she certainly hates the idea of dying so soon.

Turning away from the now silent manager, she sighs while continue looking at the sky, that’s slowly darkening like her eyes as if the shine and sparkle weren’t there at all.

* * *

“Thanks for sending me back, Shiroiwa-san.” With a smile, she steps out from the van and behind her, the van drives away. Taking off her shades, she digs into her bag to fish out her home card.

*Beep Boop* She pushes the gate open and steps inside. After shutting the gate behind her, she walks a certain distance more before reaching her home. Stretching her arms out, she waves a little. “I am home!!”

Upon hearing her voice, a lady is quick to put down her koto as well as a white fabric down. With some effort, she stands up from the wooden floor and walks to where Riko is. “Welcome back. How’s your day? I heard that your CEO’s son once again gives you the invitation to a meal.”

 _Again?!_ Putting her arm down, she maintains her poker face as she makes her reply. “It’s as usual. Following the schedule that the company gave me, getting to multiple different venues to have fan sign events and also to promote my incoming movie.”

“Just like that? What about that invitation? Do you accept it?”

Riko seriously wishes she could roll her eyes as well as manage a scowl or two. However, curse her for being well-trained in keeping a poker face. “Mom! How can I reject the invitation of an employer? Also, before I could make any decision, my schedule had been rearranged.” _and I do not like it…_

After listening to what she said, her mom smiles a little, showing a very subtle satisfaction. “Glad to hear that. Now, let’s go in. Your father is waiting.” Exchanging no more words, she follows her mom into the house.

“The son of the CEO once again called you for dinner, eh… or so as I have heard.” Without turning around to face both Riko and his wife, he continues to polish his rapier as he speaks.

 _So, we are getting straight to the point without even a word of care, eh…?_ Riko thinks this inside herself as she remains silent.

The one that speaks up is her mother. “Yes dear, she just confirmed it with me.” After that, she merrily turns to Riko and grab her arms. “Let’s go to your room, we have bought you new dresses and also we will go through another round of practices for the scenes of your next shoot.” 

Riko pauses her steps that are in the middle of heading to her room which makes her mom turns back, face filled with questions. “Mom, I am tired today. May we skip the practices today?” She speaks as she rubs the back of her neck.

Completely facing her now, her mom stays silent for a while before speaking. “I see, well fine, we may skip trying out the new dresses that we bought. However, we will still proceed with the practices as usual and that’s final.”

Without wanting to hear more from Riko, the mom changes her path and turns towards the other direction. “Since we are not trying those new dresses, go and bring your scripts and meet me in the leisure space. I will be waiting.”

She wasn’t trying to throw any childish tantrums as she is seriously tired. She wants to raise her voice and protest, let alone scream. However, she can’t as she knows that her mother is just looking out for her. Letting out a deep sigh, she continues on her way to her room.

Upon entering her room, she straight away found a few bags placed on her bed. Ignoring them, she turns to wash herself up, remove her makeup, grabs her movie scripts, and left her room to where her mother tells her to.

“Sister! W-would you really leave me once again just for your selfish sense of justice!” In the leisure space, Riko’s shaky voice that’s filled with anger resounds throughout the space.

“I… I am sorry, but I have to.” Apologized her mom as she begins to ball her hand into a fist. With much reluctance, she turns around wanting to leave Riko.

However, from her back, Riko shakes her head vigorously. “No! If you leave this family again, don’t ever think of coming back anymore! Now choose! This family or your justice!”

Her mom turns around while opening her eyes slightly and she hesitates. “I…”

Dropping her head, Riko shuts her eyes as angry tears trickle down to the floor. “Stop, you don’t have to say anything more. If you have trouble choosing, then don’t choose this family! GO and never ever return!”

The story that they are acting on is about a pair of sisters. The younger sister always wishes their family to live in peace. On the contrary, the older sister that has a high sense of justice, she would always get herself into trouble. However, just when the younger sister thinks that the older sister's sense of justice won’t go too far, one day their family is being targeted by a dangerous organization. 

With that, Riko’s mom claps her own hand to signal that the scene was done. “Alright, good job. However, there are still some parts that need refining. Okay, let’s go over once more.”

Hearing that, Riko picks up her script and wipes her tears away to restart.

“Sister! W-would you really leave me once again just for your selfish sense of justice!” At the shooting set, Riko’s shaky voice that’s filled with anger resounds in the house.

“I am sorry, but I have to.” Apologized another actress as she begins to walk towards Riko to give her a tight hug. Losing the hug with much reluctance, she turns around wanting to leave Riko.

However, from her back, Riko shakes her head vigorously. “No! If you leave this family again, don’t ever think of coming back anymore! Now choose! This family or your justice!”

The actress turns around while opening her eyes slightly and she hesitates as she places her shaking hand on her mouth. “I…”

Dropping her head, Riko shuts her eyes as angry tears trickle down to the floor. “STOP, you don’t have to say anything more. If you have trouble choosing, then don’t choose this family! GO and NEVER EVER DARE TO RETURN!”

“Okay, cut!” Shouted a director that’s waving the script high up to the air to catch both actress's attention. As both of them turns to look at him with Riko wiping the tears away, the director smiles at both of them. “We are done for the day, good job!”

“Good job!” Replied both of them to the director and the other staff. Just when Riko wants to leave her spot to take a rest, the other actress pulls a little at the tip of her sleeve.

Riko turns around while blinking a few times. “Yes? Saya-chan, may I help you?”

Letting go of Riko’s sleeve, Saya then starts talking, while looking at her with sparkles in her eyes. “Senpai, do you want to have lunch with me?”

She stays ever silent for a while to consider. After a few minutes with her checking her phone for a schedule as well as her own condition, she decides to call her manager. “Shiroiwa-san, today I will be having my lunch with Saya-chan, would you mind fetching us both?”

Shutting her phone after exchanging a few more words, she turns towards Saya and nods with a smile. “It’s an okay from my manager, let’s go change up first and meet at the front entrance.” With that, both of them go on their way to strip off their own roles costume, making them return to become just Riko and Saya.

Riko was the first to finished changing and she waits for Saya while scrolling through her phone to check the online reception of their incoming movie.

From a certain distance, the voice of Saya comes through and that breaks her away from her screen. Saya was brisk-walking towards her until Saya’s phone comes ringing. Riko watches as Saya fishes her phone out from her bag and she notices how she scowls.

It’s not her place to know what’s going on, but she just can’t suppress her curiosity. “Saya-chan, who’s that? Why don’t you accept the call?”

Looking back and forth between Riko and her phone, she decides to share her story. “Senpai, it’s from a stranger that I helped the other day. I lend them my phone for a call and now they kept calling me back.”

“Eh?! The phone, I mean our phone, it’s given by the company, right? They should not have been able to have any record from your calls.” Replies Riko as if that’s the most natural thing ever.

Without doubting anything, Saya looks at Riko with a ridiculous expression. “Senpai, you sure you are not dreaming about any fantasy world right now? How is that possible? Yes, the phone that I am currently using is given by the company, but they did not tell me such an application at all.”

Riko scowled even more as her mind begin to work on any kind of possibilities, but she still can’t wrap around the things that Saya told her. Riko feels the need to prove her words as well as clear her mind about it.

Standing on the same spot, she tells Saya to try out things by using both of their phones. They both cancel their contact saved for each other, calls back to each other while purposely missing it. After a while, Saya looks at her own phone in wonder. “It’s true, there’s no record of you calling me!”

Thinking of the possibilities that there are some problems with Saya’s phone, Riko advises Saya to call up the company for a new phone. However, what came out of Saya’s mouth made her doubt things. “No, I don’t think my phone has any problems, if that’s the case, there are problems on Miru-chan, Inari-chan, and Haruka-chan’s phones too.”

Riko is rendered silent. “Senpai, I think it’s only your phone that’s a bit special.” Still smiling, Saya keeps away her phone and pulls Riko with her. “Let’s go, I think your manager is here.”

She watches as steam keeps coming from the grill that’s producing sizzling sounds of grilled meats and other edibles. In front of her, she watches as Shiroiwa and Saya keeps talking cheerfully while she rests her chin on the back of her hand after sending a piece of meat into her mouth.

Noticing how she is staring at them, Shiroiwa stops his conversation with Saya, putting all his attention on her. “What’s wrong? Feeling unwell?”

 _Should I do it?_ She could not shake certain thoughts that kept residing in her mind. Swallowing the food, she places her chopsticks on her plate and asks Shiroiwa to follow her, leaving Saya behind who goes back on turning the meats on the grill.

“What’s up? Why do you call me away from the table?” Questions Shiroiwa with his face, filled with curiosity.

Looking at her manager, she crosses her arms and after some consideration, she finally speaks out while taking out her phone. “Shiroiwa-san, I trust you and that’s why I wish you will tell me the truth. Why is this phone that’s given by the company unable to let others get a record of my calls?”

Upon hearing her question, the manager did a small gulp and just when he wants to give her his answer, Riko jumps in after noticing the subtle doubtful hesitation coming from him. “Please tell me the truth. What’s going on? You don’t have to worry about you getting found out, I will hide it from them that that’s you who told me.”

By looking at her troubled face, as if begging him to give her a truthful answer, Shiroiwa finds himself unable to disappoint Riko. It’s been a few years since he starts to work as Riko’s manager and she is like a daughter to him and so he tells her the truth.

The truth is shocking and it’s a hard pill to swallow for Riko. However, thanks to her willpower and the tough environment from the acting industry, she is well-built to take it, enable her to stand there, while remaining her poker face.

“You alright? I know it’s hard to take it all in, but that’s what I know. I am sorry for keeping you in the dark as I have no choice.” Shiroiwa knows he has no right to speak to Riko ever since he told her the truth. However, he still can’t help himself to care for her.

“I am fine, Shiroiwa-san. I am thankful that you told me the truth.” Her voice is shaky but she still tries her best to suppress certain emotions from welling up. Swallowing down her emotion, she faces Shiroiwa, inside her eyes, there’s nothing but determination.

“Shiroiwa-san, when is the dinner that I have with the CEO’s son? Is it in the next 2 days?” Shiroiwa nods after thinking back on her schedule.

Just when Shiroiwa is wondering why does she bring that up, Riko continues. “I will be attending that dinner with a big smile, don’t worry.” With that, Riko starts to walk back to the table as Saya welcomes them back.

Sensing that Shiroiwa did not follow her back to the table, Riko turns back and pull him back to the table. “Don’t worry, Shiroiwa-san. I know what to do. Now, let’s eat and built our energy to face adversities, okay?”

You would think that the one that’s going to be shaken up is Riko after knowing the truth. The contrary of what was expected, she feels a lot that’s been taken off from her shoulders. She feels light and her mind feels clear. _Finally, I have found a way to get away from this life._

Grabbing up her chopsticks, she grabs a few pieces of meat for Shiroiwa, who is looking at her with eyes filled with multiple emotions and expression. Dropping the meat on his plate, she returns back to the grill to take some for herself.

 _“Just do the thing that your heart tells you to, you don’t have to worry about the others.”_ This exact line from the stranger once again resounds in her mind. People might call her crazy to put such importance on a mere sentence coming from a stranger, but it’s that important for the current her.

Yes, this is what she is going to do as 2 days later, she steps out of her manager van while wearing the most dashing dress that she could pick from what was bought for her. Before entering the 5-star hotel, she tells herself: _Riko Harune, you can do it._


	3. Journey to Reset

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With the ending of the 1st Anniversary Event in EN server, I finally am able to find some time to continue writing the chapters.

Shiroiwa watches as Riko holds onto a part of her dress in order to step out of the van. Before she shuts the door, he asks her with his voice filled with concern. “Are you sure you are going to be fine?”

Riko smiles as she reassures her manager, saying nothing bad will happen and she will handle things on her own. She continues telling her manager to go ahead and she will call him after everything is said and done.

Once getting a nod from Shiroiwa, she shuts the door and faces the entrance of a 5-star hotel. _Riko Harune, you can do it._ She tells herself in order to keep her nerves firm.

Holding her dress again, she walks slowly enters the hotel. Once she is in, she walks straight to the receptionist to ask for the direction to the dining hall as well as her reservation with the son of the CEO.

“Wait a minute, may I know your name?” Asks the receptionist as he is picking up his phone to make a call. Riko tells him and she watches him proceed onto his phone call. After a few minutes, before the receptionist guides her, he bashfully asks for her signature.

Putting up her utmost professional smile, she takes the pen given and signs away on the receptionist book that’s given to her.

“Thanks for willing to sign for me!” Says the receptionist as he keeps bowing in gratitude. However, just when he remembers what he should do, he fumbles around to return back to his professional self.

“I am sorry, now would you please follow me.” Looking that the receptionist finally is guiding her, she gladly follows him up to the dining floor.

“Thanks for guiding me.” With that, she left the receptionist and goes her way to a table that has been occupied by a well-dressed man in his twenties. Walking towards the table, she looks at him. Well styled slicked back brown hair, double-breasted black and white suits, white pants, and a pair of the white designer wingtip.

 _Extravagant like usual eh? Someone’s about to get married today, I guess…_ That’s what she thinks inside, but on the outside, she tells herself to smile after the man notices her presence. “Good evening, Riko-san, I am glad you make it today despite your busy schedule.”

 _Sorry sir, but everything was being arranged by the company, I have no say on this matter._ “Good evening, Suzuki-san.”

Before reaching her chair, she watches Suzuki stands up from his seat, wanting to pull another chair for her. However, before he does it, he stands there while using his eyes to look at her from top to the bottom and return back to the top. “You look fantastic today.”

Suzuki always does that whenever they meet up in such dinner. She does not know why she did not feel something was off until today. Yes, until after she knows everything. Still keeping her smile, she glances at her chair. “Excuse me?”

That had made Suzuki snap out of it and immediately pull out the chair for her. Once making sure that she is seated, he returns back to his seat

In-front of her, raising up his hand, Suzuki is quick to order the waiters and waitresses to serve the food. As the staff is all moving, Suzuki turns around to face Riko. “So, I have heard that the shooting of your movie is about to come to an end, am I right?”

“Yes, it’s almost done.” She raises up her fingers to count. “One, two, three… just five more scenes to go and I will be having my big break.”

Once she finishes replying, she sees how Suzuki wanted to say something, but the waiters intervene by bringing the prepared meals to their table. All was silent as they go through the course until they arrive at the dessert.

It’s a single serving strawberry shortcake. When the shortcake was being brought out, Riko notices how oddly excited Suzuki was. _Weird…_ Hiding her emotion really well, she picks up her small fork and digs in. Suzuki is still looking at her, leaving his own shortcake untouched.

Acting as if his gazes aren’t bothering her, she continues to dig her way to the cake until her fork touches something hard. Feeling weird by it, she starts to pull out the metal-looking thing inside her cake. It’s a ring.

Realizing that she has found the ring, Suzuki is quick to signal the staff around to bring in the cheering. However, before they could even utter a single sound, Riko raises her hand to stop them.

With her raising up her hand to stop them, suddenly the increasing sound of steps and body movements comes to a halt. Without even wanting to care about them, she continues to look at the ring until she places it down on the table.

Tearing her eyes away from the ring, she looks at Suzuki as she places her hand down. _So, today is the climax, eh…_ Trying her utmost best not to leak her real emotion, she just stares back at Suzuki.

In front of her, Suzuki is quick to tell the staff to step back in order to not intimidate Riko. After he had done so, he turns back to her with his face filled with brightness. “Why? Feeling so surprised that you can’t speak?”

Taking a big gulp, she starts to speak. “Is this why you always ask your father to call me out to have dinner with you?”

“Yes, I have always liked you ever since I saw your audition. I just know that I want you. It’s been a while, but I am always waiting for you to get big and popular enough.” Suzuki paused awhile before continuing. “And now, it seems that you are finishing your big project that will guarantee your name. Thus, I think it’s the perfect time to propose and we will get to our honeymoon when it’s your big break!”

Without even the need to hear the actual “Please marry me.” From Suzuki, Riko immediately stands up from the table. “Thank you for all the care that you gave all the while, but I will have to reject you.”

With that, the happy warm romantic atmosphere that surrounds the dining floor immediately plunges down a few hundred degrees, turning stone cold. Hearing her answer, the staff around starts to become unsettle and some even start to whisper among each other.

Meanwhile, Suzuki is left stunned as his face starts to go from cheerful, emotionless, disappointed, confusion to now having a slight scowl in just a few seconds. “Why?”

“Why, you ask? Let me make things clear, from the beginning until now, I have never once had any feelings for you, and all the while I have been accepting the dinner is due to professional reasons that are between an employer and an employee. Nothing more, nothing less.” She watches as Suzuki’s face change even more. “Also, the reason why I am able to attend all the dinners is due to the company’s arrangement, I have no say on this matter.”

She notices how Suzuki is trying to keep calm as she hears Suzuki speaks out. “That’s because I seriously want some time with you as I believe after spending some time together, we will have feelings for each other. Also, if you do not like your schedule being arranged, I would ask my father not to do it. Don’t be angry, okay?”

As much as she despises herself having an actress life now, part of her also feels thankful for it. From her past roles, she came to know what’s having a respectful relationship, and this man in front of her is the exact opposite of that.

As if she remembers something, she brings out her phone, the phone that the company gave her. “How can I be angry if I don’t have any disappointment or even expectation in the first place? Suzuki-san, not only that you have played around with my schedule, you even go as far as to try isolating me by giving me a specially made phone.”

“So, how did you find out?” Unlike the initial attempt that wants to convince Riko to accept him, he does a 180, eyes turn stone cold, crossing both of his arms and legs.

Despite the change of demeanor, Riko finds herself unaffected as she already expected as much from a man that wants to control a girl even when they weren’t even in a relationship. “Let’s say it’s the fate that made me found out before today’s dinner.”

She drops the phone on the table since she won’t be using it anymore and before she leaves, she turns back once again. “Also, kindly please do not involve my parents in convincing me to accept you. I know what you did with my parents as well.”

“You sure are smug for a girl that’s been planned to be popular by me. Do you think you would continue being this successful after today? Do you ever think why it is that that all the important and impactful projects came to you? Do you really think it’s from your own ability?”

Asks Suzuki as he lowers his voice even more. “Do you think you can survive?”

 _Actually, that’s better._ That’s what she thinks because if the industry is such a place, she rather not has it. However, she controls her facial expression well without wanting to give out her emotions. With a wordless nod, she smiles and turns away, leaving Suzuki alone.

Behind her, Suzuki is seen shouting out and kicking the table away with the ring and the phone dropping on the floor. As if he could not fathom such rejection, he immediately calls someone.

She seriously feels exhausted as well as feels slightly liberated. At least, today had proven that her unsettling feeling that she had been experiencing are in the correct place. Stepping out from the elevator, she heads towards the receptionist area to borrow their phone.

She calls a number and after exchanging some words, she returns the phone with a smile and steps out of the hotel. After a while, she sees her manager van come driving up to her and she enters, completely making herself away from the hotel grounds.

Inside the moving van, Shiroiwa noticed just how exhausted Riko is, but he keeps his silence as he continues driving as he feels guilty. He is guilty knowing that he is part of the group that keeps Riko in the dark for years.

However, the silence was never as long as Riko turns towards her manager without moving her body at all. “Shiroiwa-san, please bring me to the nearest phone shop. I will need to purchase a new one since I left that phone with him.”

Shiroiwa shrugged a little as he hears her speaking and he turns his wheel in another direction. “S-so, h-have you settled things with him? Did you already decide how would you proceed from now on? How will you explain when it comes to your parents?”

She turns away and looks through the window that’s starting to get wet from the drizzle. After a short while, she… “For now, I will still continue on my work since acting is the only thing that I am currently good at. I will try my best to finish shooting my movie if the situation allowed me.”

She paused for a while without letting her eyes away from the passing skyscrapers and other vehicles. “However, if the time comes and if my parents do mention this matter, I will tell them my own feelings.”

Her own feelings. Since when has she expresses her own sincere emotion? Can she actually do it or will her attempt be so fleeting that’s like the raindrops that keep dripping down from the window despite their attempt to cling onto it?

She finds herself unable to take her eyes off the everlasting dripping rain that is reflected on her face now. Through the reflection shadow of the rain that’s on her face, it’s looking as if she is weeping. “If both choices ended up having no fruition, I guess I will just have to start stepping out from my bubble, my life to check what’s outside.”

Pulling of the rubber band that’s tying her hair, she continues. “Yes, that’s what I need to do as it’s apparent that I am still so naïve to the point of not noticing the setup. I will take this issue as a lesson and I will no longer just isolate myself in the acting world.”

Once she finished her last sentence, she finally turns toward Shiroiwa and gives him a smile that’s filled with her tiny but visible courage and determination.

Upon seeing her smile, the only thing that Shiroiwa do is to sigh out of defeat and also a little bit of relief. In his heart, he simply was just glad that Riko is showing signs of coming out of her shell, the shell that had been with her ever since she was born. The celebrity life shell.

Turning away from Riko, Shiroiwa continues driving until they reached the phone shop. Putting on a face mask and a cap, Riko leaves the van with Shiroiwa following her behind, holding an umbrella to shield both of them from the rain.

After a few minutes of looking and deciding, Riko decides on one phone and she also lets the staff help her insert a new phone card. Opening up her purse, she pays it up and as she is walking back to the van, she is quick to save all the contacts that she remembers.

Following her behind, Shiroiwa saw everything, with how she key-in each and every number with their names, and he can’t help but exclaim. “You surely have great memorization skills.”

Entering the van, Riko place down her newly purchased phone to speak as she leaves the phone screen open. “Of course, manager. If not, how would I able to survive if I have not trained up my memorization skill for all the scripts and lines?”

“Alright, whatever you say.” Decides to drop the subject. Shiroiwa starts another. “So, where are you planning to go now?”

“I guess I will just go home today. I can’t possibly do anything with this kind of weather.”

With that, after an hour or so, before she gets down from the van, she questions Shiroiwa about her schedule. “Your final shootings will be next week and before that, you will have two fan-signing events and the La Bravia perfume photoshoot.”

After listening to her schedule, she nods and gets down from the van, small runs to the front gate, and enters her home. It’s a good thing that both of her parents are away at the overseas as they were being invited to star in a variety show.

Crossing through the garden of her house, she enters the main building and finds her way to her room as the dress is beginning to feel uncomfortable. Stepping out from the washroom while wiping her hair with a towel, she absent-mindedly walks to her couch.

Dropping herself down to her seat, she stretches out her hand to grab the remote to turn on the television. There goes the screen lighting up her dim room and from the screen, she sees a travel talk show. _Ah… It’s a rerun._

She sees her parents through her screen and every single one of their actions got reflected in her eyes. Pulling up her legs and rest her arms and chin on her knees, she watches on even though she already knows how it’s going to be.

 _Father and mother truly are the real deal._ That’s what she thought as she continues eyeing the screen, blinking ever slowly. She begins to question herself something that she has been asking herself: What does she truly want to do?

 _It’s useless…_ It’s useless as nobody would tell her an answer. Slowly, she lies down on her couch with her eyes still onto the screen that’s now showing both of her parents trying and being dramatic with a bungee jump.

Hugging onto her couch pillow, she watches silently until she let her drowsiness take over. Before her consciousness got separated from the world, she… _Everything is going to be okay, right?_

* * *

­It’s been two days since her dinner with Suzuki and now she is back to her job, putting up a professional mask, accepting her merchandise from her fans to sign. Nothing much has changed ever since she rejected Suzuki, but she knew better not to put down her guard.

Smiling as brilliantly as always, she keeps meeting her fans one by one to talk to them in under 5 to 10 mins and it’s a repeating process. Today has been a successful day and she finds her day quick to go by.

The next day, there’s still nothing huge that comes her way as she dons herself in a red velvet dress to take her perfume photoshoot as well as record a short advertisement for the perfume. It was a smooth day as well and she begins to think that perhaps she can complete all her remaining projects before announcing her leave.

However, it seems that she is once again being too naïve. On her second fan-signing event of the week, things start to happen as when she is half-way through her event, Shiroiwa runs to her, telling her to check her phone, especially the headlines for the entertainment section.

As the security is beginning to halt anymore of her fans to meet her, calling it a small break, she is quick to check on her phone and her heart sank a little. On her phone, there reads **Riko Harune is seen getting into hotels with the son of Suzuki Entertainment on multiple occasions.** The article even attached some photos that are obviously captured by paparazzi. 

She decides to scroll down and read and a sentence caught her attention. **What will Suzuki Hayato’s fiancée think of this?** Riko had to reread the sentence once more before letting everything sink in. _He has a fiancée already…?_

“I think it’s better to halt the fan-sign event-” Before Shiroiwa could finish his whispering towards Riko, something changed in the waiting spot as some fans keep scrolling through their phone as they look at her with eyes that see a stranger.

Facing the crowd that is starting to whisper around and showing their phones towards each other, Riko and Shiroiwa know it right away that things are going to go bad. Shiroiwa is quick to tell the speaker to call the event off but Riko stops him.

“I have no faults on this matter, you don’t have to call the event off. We do not have to run as we are not guilty.” Calmly, Riko sat back down on her chair and call the security to let the fans come to her.

The first few fans are nice towards her as they are oblivious to this matter. This is thanks to having their phones confiscated for a short while due to the no-photo policy. However, when it comes to the later ones, they start to ask her about the latest news.

“Is that you in the photo? That’s obviously you right?”

“Please clarify your relationship with the son of the Suzuki Entertainment.”

“Did you obtain such fast fame due to this reason?”

“Are you going to leave us?”

“Did I choose to support a fiancée snatcher? Would you kindly apologize to me?”

She can only smile. Yes, she forces herself to smile, sign, and talk to them, answering and replying to them like a professional she is. “My entertainment will make a clarification for it.” That’s the only answer she can give them.

When she is dealing with such questions, she also noticed that some of her fans had taken their leave before even meeting her. She smiles dryly as continues working like an empty husk. She decides to tune out her senses and goes into autopilot mode.

After another hour, which feels like a day, the event finally comes to an end. Bringing some of her senses back, she starts to stand up from her chair, thinking she is fine. However, it’s obvious that she is affected as her legs suddenly got weak, almost making her fall.

Shiroiwa quickly rushes towards her, grabbing her arm as well as her waist to support her from falling. “You idiot. Why do you want to continue the event?”

They stay like that for a while until Riko starts to get stable. As she goes to her bag, she turns towards her manager. “My sense of professionalism does not let me end the event halfway and also, if I run away just now, it would seem like I am truly guilty.”

Once she replied to her manager that wears nothing but pure concern on his face, she smiles at him while pushing him to the parking lot. On their way, they saw some of Riko’s signed merchandise in some rubbish bins.

It’s a lie to tell that she does not feel anything, she does but she chose to be optimistic. Yes, she needs to be optimistic for the final few days of her actress's life that seems to come sooner than she is expecting.

Before Shiroiwa starts the van, he starts to breathe a lot heavier after he thinks about the news as well as the situation at the event. “Rich kids and their ego and I do not even want to mention that he had a fiancée already. How can he-”

Shiroiwa turns towards Riko angrily. “I am terribly sorry for even have a single thought of supporting the relationship you both do not have previously.” He turns away to face his steering wheel in embarrassment. “If he already has a fiancée then he should stick with his fiancée. Why come to you?”

“Hah… It seems like we will need to be extra careful these days and act accordingly.” Shiroiwa fishes out his phone to call the company to inform on this matter, but after exchanging some words, he raises his voice. “How can you just leave one of your actresses this way?! Are you being serious now? She would need to deal with this her own?!”

It looks like the other side had close off the connection as Shiroiwa keeps repeating “Hello?” towards his phone. He calls again and it seems like nobody is accepting it. Without a single choice, he drops off his phone to send Riko home first.

Before she enters her home, Shiroiwa tells her with full concern in his voice. “Keep yourself guarded and always wear a disguise whenever you go out now. Don’t worry, I will try to talk to the company for them to at least vouch for you.”

She doesn’t know why, but she is oddly calm unlike the wrecked manager of hers. She smiles and chuckles slightly as she speaks. “I don’t think it would work by just talking to them since I had rejected his son and they might be the one that releases those photos to the tabloid magazine.”

“Seriously, rich kids and their ego. They just can’t seem to take a little bit of rejection and some failures in their plan eh?” After finishing half-shouting his words to the sky, he lowers his head back. “I need to go first, if you ever need anything, please call me.”

Riko nods as she enters her home and she is once again glad that her parents are still at the overseas. She thinks that perhaps she could have some break by not facing her parents for this matter so quickly. However, things aren’t going to be like how she wants it to be.

Another two days later, she receives news that she does not have to attend the movie shooting anymore. Receiving such news, she had taken her action on paying the director a visit to allow her to shoot the movie to completion.

However, the director simply just gave her icy-cold words. “The reason why I chose you in the first place is that you are being marketed as the second Maya Harune. Maya Harune as in your mother, and I see it in you.”

“However, you are just a copy and a younger version of your mother and nothing more. If it’s not for your company that keeps pushing you, I won’t even bat an eyelash on you.” The director clears his throat. “To be fair, I have come to tolerate you, but with that rumor spreading around, I don’t think I can let you continue.”

Such clear and concise words. Riko can only sigh internally as she remembers every single praise that the director sang for her. _So, this industry is only worth as much eh…?_

She even remembers every single hard work she did and those seem like its all just a mirage that’s not even worth the mention. _Haha… in the end, everything is just base on connections, eh…?_

It’s like a comedy and she is the main clown. A clown that keeps smiling and pleasing others while convincing herself that that’s from her own free will. It was all fun and nice until she realized she is a stringed clown that does not have any free will.

Behind her, a puppet master is always controlling her. That puppet master is very confident that she would not dare to defy or even cut off those strings. Cutting those strings means her death, she will go limp and motionless.

However, there’s one thing that the puppet master does not know. His stringed clown is very ready for defying or even letting him cut away those strings. The stringed clown is so ready that she arrived on that day when her parents came back with the Suzuki’s.

She takes a glance at Suzuki Hayato while her parents are talking to her CEO. Tearing her eyes away from him, she hears her father calling. Even though they remain their smiles, but Riko knows they are slowly nudging her to apologize.

Turning towards her CEO, she gladly apologizes. “I apologize that I had failed the trust you have on me…”

She started that way, and she notices how smug the Suzuki had become, but she is not apologizing for whatever reasons they are having in their minds. “I apologize that my actions might have caused confusion and worries for my fans. After thinking about it, perhaps I should not be that impulsive to directly pay the director a visit myself without informing anyone.”

She takes a deep bow and right there and then, she ended her apology. When she raises her head, she can only marvel at the sight on the faces of the Suzuki’s, especially Hayato’s.

Unable to take the humiliation, her CEO turns towards their parents. “It seems like your daughter still does not learn anything yet. Well, it’s been a waste of time for us to be here today.”

Riko watches as her parents are convincing the Suzuki’s who are leaving and apologizing in her stead. While they are doing that, they are also telling her to apologize for real. She shuts her eyes in order to control her emotions. “Then what about his fiancée? Mom and dad, do you really want your daughter to engage with a two-timer…?”

Hearing her question, her dad is quick to rush towards her, giving her a large slap in the face. “How dare you?! Don’t you really not understand? If it weren’t for Hayato to fancy you, you won’t even be where you are now! Apologize now!”

It stings, it really does. However, with so many things happened in the span of a week, she finds herself to be able to face this easily. “Dad, didn’t you taught me about acting with pride? Didn’t you and mom fight with your own power to be top celebrities? Then why can’t I? Why should I need to be engaged with him to get those?”

“You!” She notices how her dad is about to strike her again, but he holds himself in. “You are different. Do you think I would want to give away my daughter this way? It’s all your fault for catching Hayato’s eyes and now you are deep into this connection and you can’t turn away anymore.”

 _So, it’s my fault in the end, eh?_ Riko doesn’t understand where did she do wrong to receive such words from her dad, but she had enough. She knows it's useless to talk to her dad as she knows what’s his intention.

Before she turns away and leaves the living room, she drops a sentence. “I will quit being an actress.”

It’s a word that she has been wanting to say for a long, long time. Tired of looking at the four of them, she leaves as she walks away. Behind her, Hayato starts to complain to his dad. “This. This cannot be. I want her, she can’t quit now…”

On her way to her room, her mom caught up to her. “Wait, Riko! Are you being serious now for wanting to quit being an actress? Tell me!” Her mom shakes her while grabbing onto her shoulders.

“Yes, it’s been circling in my mind for a while now and it seems that now is the right moment to say it.” Confesses Riko with her voice filled with firmness and determination.

Facing such a determined daughter, her mom let go of her shoulders and starts to chuckle. “Quitting being an actress, you say? Then what are you going to do as I remember you don’t know about anything else other than acting, no? Then, what are you going to do as you obviously can’t do anything?”

She smiles as she raises her head to face her mother after finish constructing her thoughts. “Mother, what are you and dad going to do if there’re rumors circulating that your daughter is a fiancée snatcher? It would affect both of you, right? No wait, you would need to explain to grandparents and to our relatives as well.”

With her words out, the chuckle that her mother had just a moment ago dispersed. She continues on without wanting to care much. “This time I would like to ask you, what are you and dad going to do if the rumors of me keep following you both as the only thing you both know are strictly in the celebrity circle? I am very clear what both of you are worrying for and it’s definitely not me”

She turns away as her mother looks like her throat is getting strangled by some invisible stuff. “Even though I have no idea what I want and able to do, but there's one thing that's very clear to me, is that I do not want the life I have now.” Before stepping into her room, she drops another sentence. “Don’t worry, as I will no longer stay in this house as I planned to venture out for a better and a more exciting life.”

 _A life where I can truly use my own ability to earn my own place._ But this very line is kept within herself.

Finishing her words, she enters her room to grab the luggage that she has been preparing for this very day. She grabs her bag as well as her phone and with that, she passed her shell-shocked mom and officially leaves the Harune house.

Standing in front of the front gate with her disguise on, she decides to fast-walk towards the nearest station in order to not miss the last train as it’s almost midnight now.

As she is now on the train, she decides to call her manager about her heading towards his place. As usual, the voice of lectures and complains being so loud, that it can be heard coming from her phone without the speaker on.

Shutting her phone after saying farewells, she travels for another hour taking this train as well as a taxi. “Thank you.” After paying up her fee, she walks some more, bypassing a very peculiar house that she remembered to have a sign that's like a badge with 4 flowers insignia on it, hanging right beside the door.

However, she no longer pays that peculiar house any attention as she needs to reach her manager’s house as soon as possible.

She rings the bell after arriving and as soon as possible, her manager comes opening the door for her to enter. Behind her manager, there comes a woman in her apron. She looks at the woman and Shiroiwa had to do the introduction. “That’s my wife.”

Before Shiroiwa could continue on his introduction, his wife is quick to welcome her into their house. Leaving no choice, Shiroiwa follows them in after he locks the gate.

“So, what happened? Why the sudden decision on asking for a room here?” Asked her manager after his wife serves her a simple meal of white rice, miso soup, and tamagoyaki.

Eating such homely food that’s filled with so much warmth, Riko just could not help herself as her tears come flowing even though she is smiling now. “I quitted being an actress and now I am homeless.”

Seeing her still trying to be tough, Shiroiwa gives her a pat on the back with his wife giving her a hug. For the first time in her life, she cries as Riko Harune and not because of a role. On that night, she cries out everything that she had been holding back for a decade.

“You are finally crying. Cry all you want and become stronger.” Said Shiroiwa as he and his wife continue to accompany her on that very night.

**-2 YEARS LATER-**


End file.
